The Stars of Kerkalum
by RiderofRanger
Summary: "SMALL FIRE! I SAID TO MAKE A SMALL FIRE! THIS IS NOT SMALL!" Shiro yelled, trying to pull the tent away from the blaze. Keith stood, trying to look as innocent as possible while watching Shiro run back and forth, yelling at Lance, and scooping up buckets of water. The adventures of a team-building camp exercise as the Paladins form their bonds with each-other.


Lance did not, under _any_ circumstances want to get up. He had fallen asleep on the main deck, just looking at the stars, and had blinked awake in the early hours of the morning, sore and cold. He'd dragged himself to his room and had drifted off, only to be woken an hour later by Coran's annoyingly perky voice telling him it was time for breakfast.

"Five more minutes" Lance mumbled, shifting so that the unforgiving light wasn't shining directly into his eye sockets.

"I've already been in here twice, and I'm not leaving again" came Coran's irate reply as he snatched Lance's blanket off the sleeping boy. He gave the fluffy object a skeptical look, ignoring Lance's loud groan of protest, "What's a Zelda?"

. . .

"All right Paladins!" Coran announced after breakfast, "Earlier this morning, Alura and I came upon the realization that we are currently passing the Jenavum system and decided that planet Kerkalum was the perfect place for a group exercise!"

There were multiple groans around the table.

"Now, now, there'll be none of that. I'm positive that you will like this one! In fact, when I was a young lad, my father often took me on these marvelous journeys of-"

Allura cleared her throat, "Coran, the exercise."

"Ah, yes." He pulled out a device that projected images of the as he talked, "Because of planet Kerkalum's nearly perfect position to the sun in it's system, the terrain mostly consists of tall brown plants with spikey green leaves, quite similar to Earth's "trees". The warm and beautiful climate makes the planet a popular vacation spot in this section of the galaxy. Which is why…" Coran paused dramatically, "YOU WILL SPEND TONIGHT SLEEPING UNDER THE STARS!" He waited for the cheers of excitement.

There was a moment of silence before:

"I'm not much of an outdoor person," Hunk nervously admitted.

"There is no way this beautiful face is gonna be left outside for the elements to destroy!" Lance cried.

"That actually sounds kinda fun." Pidge confessed.

"Yeah, no." declared Keith, crossing his arms.

. . .

"Okay, so I'm about as happy with this as you are, but Coran and Allura have locked the castle so we're stuck out here. We might as well make the best of it." Shiro said with a sigh, "Lance and Keith, gather firewood and make a fire. Try to keep it small since we'll want it going all night. Hunk, figure out how much food we have and see what you can do with it. Pidge and I will set up the tents and scout around. We'll meet back in the clearing in about an hour."

"Uh, guys?" Pidge called from where they were picking through the supplies, "Coran left us with only one tent."

. . .

Lance groaned, "This sucks."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree" Keith remarked, picking up his hatchet.

Lance blinked, "What was that?"

Keith scowled, "Forget it."

Lance smirked, "I'm pretty sure you said that you agree with me."

Keith's scowl deepened and he quickly changed the subject "I bet I can get more firewood than you."

Lance noticed the distraction but thought better of angering the red paladin, "What are the stakes?"

Keith smiled and beckoned Lance closer, whispering something.

"Oh you're _on_."

. . .

Keith ambled into the clearing, arms laden with firewood and smirked at the sight before him.

" **SMALL** FIRE! I SAID TO MAKE A **SMALL FIRE**! **THIS IS NOT SMALL**!" Shiro yelled, trying to pull the tent away from the blaze.

Keith stood, trying to look as innocent as possible while watching Shiro run back and forth, yelling at Lance, and scooping up buckets of water. As the flames died down, so did his shouting and Shiro picked his way toward the edge of the clearing, collapsing next to Keith. He dropping his face into his hands and rubbed his eyes. Keith observed quietly, waiting, and finally, Shiro figured it out.

"...Keith?" He asked, suspiciously looking up at the boy in question.

"Hmmm?"

"Did you put Lance up to this?"

A smile grew on Keith's face.

"KEITH!"

He ran, the wind in his hair as he laughed.

"KEEEEIIIIITTTTTHHHHH!"

. . .

"Mmmmmm, Hunk these are _amazing_!" Pidge exclaimed, biting into the alien food with gusto.

There were murmurs of assent around the fire.

"Yeah, reminds me of hotdogs! But with more of a chicken flavor... What's in this sauce?" Lance asked.

"It's a mix of plants that lives on Shay's balmera. She showed me how to make it and gave me some of the plants last time we visited. Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's really good!" Pidge answered.

Keith leaned towards Shiro, "This reminds me of the camping trips Dad used to take us on when we were little."

"Those were awful!" Shiro chuckled, remembering the adventures of his and Keith's adoptive father. "Remember when it rained and the tent leaked so bad that we were literally sitting in water in the morning?"

Keith huffed, "Yeah, we both caught terrible colds. Mom was furious!"

Shiro doubled over with laughter, "The look on her face when the three of us walked in at 5am, completely soaked to the bone! I didn't stop laughing for _days_!"

Keith smiled, "And that time when lightning hit this huge tree and it fell onto the only road back. We had to call the fire department and wait for _2 hours_ before they got it off."

All eyes were on Keith and Shiro, smiling at the stories the two were sharing.

"Oh! And when we had those crepes and woke up the next morning to find our trash all over the campgrounds! The raccoons had broke into the bags and licked the cherry pie filling clean!" Shiro exclaimed.

"That took _forever_ to clean up." Keith admitted with a fond smile.

"I used to go camping." Pidge said, reminiscing, "Matt and I didn't enjoy it very much, we weren't outdoorsy people, but Dad loved it so much that we went anyway. We had a camper though. The three of us had competitions over who could catch the most fireflies."

"Yeah, my tío (uncle) had a farm out in the country and every other year, my whole famila would drive 2 hours with our tents and spend a whole week catching up. We would fish, play volleyball, ride horses, take a tractor ride, and have a family talent show. My older brothers even brought fireworks. It was always my favorite part of the summer." Lance smiled, and look down to hide how watery his eyes were getting from the memories.

"What did you do in the talent show?" Hunk asked, sensing Lance's homesickness and knowing the story would distract him.

Lance gave Hunk a look of gratitude and launched into the theatrics of him and his sisters, "Mi hermanas (sisters) and I did gymnastics so we had quite the circus act. We did lifts, flips, contortions, back handsprings, the whole works. I've always been good at juggling so I'd grab random objects from my cousins, and toss them in the air. Every year we added something bigger and better than the year before, showing off the new moves we'd learned and making the show even more fantastic."

"You can juggle?" Pidge asked in awe, "Will you teach me?"

"You bet I will!"

. . .

"Does everyone have a sleeping bag?" Shiro asked, being the space dad he was and making sure everyone was tucked away before he himself, went to bed.

Multiple positive answers rang out from the various huddles that were the paladins.

"Okay, sleep tight everyone. And remember, if you have to go to the bathroom…"

"Take a buddy, yeah we _know_ Shiro." Interrupted Lance, "You only told us _15 times_." he muttered under his breath.

Pidge snorted and Shiro smiled slightly, picking his way to the black sleeping bag that was his bed, "Goodnight everyone."

The paladins answered as one, " **Night**."

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **This story was inspired by a writing prompt I saw on pinterest and it just kinda flowered into a six-page oneshot. The direct quote was, "Small fire! I said to set a small fire! This is not small!" I'd give credit but I don't know who wrote it.**

 **The camping stories were all things that have actually happened to me while braving the wilderness myself, and Lance's family gathering is something my family does every other year, so his stories are real too. I had a lot of fun writing this and really hope those reading it, loved it too. Thank you for making it this far and if any of these camping adventures have happened to you, write me a comment. I'd love to hear them.**


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